I'm really not the carpenter emperor

Not to mention the Zheng family, when Yuan Keli took office, he found that the situation of the Denglai Navy was slightly better than that of the Fujian Navy. There were about three or five small blessing ships "in service", but this was of no use.

There is nothing to be happy about the victory in the Penghu naval battle. Everyone, including Zhu Youxiao, is thinking hard about what is it that made the victory of the Fujian Navy, which has an absolute advantage, so difficult.

The reason is obvious. The gap between ships and artillery makes it difficult for the hundreds of warships of the Fujian Navy to connect with the Dutch fleet.

After learning from the pain, Zhu Youxiao has since determined to vigorously develop the navy, and has always responded to Yuan Keli's requests.

In the second year of Tianqi alone, the imperial court paid millions of taels of silver to the Denglai navy. After Yuan Keli took office, he didn't care about any party disputes among his colleagues, and devoted himself wholeheartedly to the development of the navy and supporting Liaodong.

In the fourth year of the Apocalypse, with the complete victory of the Liaodong War and the sudden serious illness of the old slave, Liaodong was easy to attack and defend. Xiong Tingbi led the Liao army to take the opportunity to counterattack and regain the whole Liao. The situation is very good.

The development of the Denglai Navy has also achieved initial results. Among the navies in various places, Yuan Keli's Denglai Navy has the most complete reorganization and has become a benchmark.

Since the second half of the third year of the Apocalypse, the Denglai Navy has completely eliminated the old Cangshan boats and small boats, and used the small blessing boat and the big blessing boat as the main warships.

This is just a level increase, but its importance to naval warfare is self-evident.

The Dutch warships captured in the Battle of Penghu were carefully analyzed by the Ordnance Department. After a large investment and countless failures, they finally imitated the powerful Western-style artillery—the Zhenlu Cannon.

Now, the suppressing captive artillery has been fully used as the main artillery among the Nine Frontier Elite and the Yongwei Battalion. As for the Denglai Navy, it is also equipped with a large number of suppressing captive artillery.

If the battle of Penghu happened again, Yuan Keli dared to boast that the combat effectiveness of the Denglai Navy was no less than that of the incoming Dutch fleet.

Under the same ship level and artillery strength, the Denley navy will crush the Dutch fleet with only a dozen ships with the superior number of warships!

The development of the imperial court for many years has not been in vain. Tens of millions of military expenditures are spent every year. The Department of Armaments studies day and night, and now it has seen the desired effect.

However, Yuan Keli is also a human being and a minister.

As long as he is an official in the court, it is impossible for him to be completely out of the dispute. This time when the new salt law was implemented, he clearly felt that he could no longer stay out of it.

Recently, news of turmoil in the two prefectures of Denglei has come frequently, and the people in various places seem to be very dissatisfied with the change of the salt law by the imperial court.

Their reason is very simple, why didn't the imperial court give us a way to survive, we just want to sell salt to survive, but if we can't survive, do we have to wait for our death!

Yuan Keli didn't know what was wrong, he didn't know much about salt administration.

But in his view, the new salt law of the imperial court, the new salt farms in various places, and the policy of bringing coastal people to work in the salt farms to maintain their livelihoods are very good, but why did they arouse their opposition.

Just when he was at a loss, a piece of news finally eased his nerves that had been tense for several days. The court sent a minister of civil and military affairs to take charge of the salt administration. He still knew these two people.

The civil servant is Wen Tiren, who has just been promoted to the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and the general is Yang Zhaoji, the general of Shandong.

These two people showed very good talents in the last big earthquake. One was in charge of disaster relief, reconstruction, and restoration of people's livelihood, while the other was in charge of deploying troops, maintaining order in various places, and sending officers and soldiers to wipe out the bandits who caused chaos.

So since then, both Wen Tiren and Yang Zhaoji have a very high folk reputation in Shandong.

Yuan Keli was very relieved to send them down at this time, because he knew in his heart that the imperial court's policy this time was right.

Since it is right, there is no need to worry about it.

……

On this day, Yuan Keli was managing the government in the governor's yamen.

"Futai, Haiyang Saltworks is causing trouble again. The court's intentions have not come down yet. How should we deal with it?"

"Once the situation expands, it may be too late to deal with it."

Looking at the anxious officials, Yuan Keli sighed. When he came to be the governor, he didn't expect such a thing.

Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses.

What Yuan Keli lacked was the sensitivity to partisan struggles. He neither understood salt politics nor saw the conflicts of interests involved.

"Wait a minute, where is the minister in charge of salt administration?" Yuan Keli didn't answer directly, because he didn't know how to deal with it.

For such a big event, he is also afraid that if a policy is not properly implemented, it will cause a chain reaction below, so before Wen Tiren arrives in Shandong, it is best to keep it as it is.

The official said: "Going back to Futai, the last time there was news was two days ago. Two days ago, Mr. Minister Shi Lang left Jining. According to the distance, it will take two days at the earliest to reach Penglai."

Yuan Keli nodded, his expression darkened, and he opened his mouth to say something when a clerk came quickly with a happy expression on his face.

"Futai, my lords, the servant is here! A large number of officers and troops led by Marshal Yang are also here, and they have already arrived outside the yamen!"

Yuan Keli was overjoyed, threw the brush directly, and said while talking:

"Invite them to come in quickly, no! Benfu wants to greet them in person. When they arrive, they are finally here!"

Not long after, Yuan Keli saw Yang Zhaoji and Wen Tiren who were waiting at the gate of the Futai yamen, and the latter also clasped their fists together and bowed their hands together, saluting with smiles.

Although their official positions are not low, the governor is also a big official in the frontier after all, so these etiquettes are still required.

Wen Tiren was invited into the governor's yamen, and as soon as he took his seat, he saw Yuan Keli sitting on the first seat, frowning and sighing. He gave him a reassurance and said:

"Don't worry about Futai. About the Haiyang salt field, I have heard a little about it all the way from the south of the capital. When Yang Shuai led his troops into Penglai, he had already gone all the way to Haiyang."

Based on Yang Zhao's prestige in the army, he is one of the few generals in the army besides the Nine Frontiers who can be called a certain commander. He patted his chest and said:

"Master Shi Lang is right. With these soldiers and horses, Haiyang will not be able to make waves."

"Your Majesty Futai just continue to train the navy and handle the previous government affairs. The Marshal and His Excellency are under the emperor's order, so we should do our best to ensure the implementation of the new salt law in Denglai!"

Chapter 476 The 15-year-old leader

In the afternoon of the second day, Haiyang Office.

"When will the saltworks be opened again!"

"That's right, why is it closed again?"

At the outskirts of the salt field at this time, more coastal people gathered than last time. Everyone was muttering and waiting to see through.

In the past few days, the imperial court has been urgently adjusting the government decree, sending ministers of civil and military affairs to supervise and supervise, and the local government is not idle.

The policy of the imperial court came down quickly, and within half a month, the court meeting basically confirmed the keynote of continuing to implement the new salt law no matter what.

As soon as the tone was spread, the local government immediately began to take action.

First of all, it has been open for a few days, and the salt farms that bought salt at a higher price than the previous government have closed down, and the news that came out is also very clear.

For example, why this Haiyang Salt Farm was closed, it was because the new government policy arrived, and the imperial envoy was dispatched to take charge of the implementation of the Salt Law, and he dared not buy it anymore.

To put it bluntly, this is selling misery to the coastal people.

These so-called words that you can no longer continue to buy salt goods are tantamount to saying, you see, we care about you, but the imperial court doesn't care about your life and death at all. This is to sacrifice your wealth and life to this new salt law carry out.

In the past few days, there have been quite a few salt farms where such news spread, and more and more people gathered in these areas.

Haiyang is the most serious of them. It is so serious that local officials dare not even say a word without the court ministers coming down to take care of things.

Without it, once a civil uprising is triggered, it will be implicated, and judging from the current situation, the civil uprising is only a few days away.

There was still commotion outside, but Li Yan in the main hall didn't show the slightest sign of fear. This was the situation he wanted, why should he be afraid?

Besides, these people were not targeting him, Li Wei.

On weekdays, he has already done enough appearance work. In the eyes of the common people, he is a great benevolent person in Haiyang!

What they are hostile to is the imperial court's new salt law. Even if they rush in, they can't lose anything with Yan Ding protecting their fundamentals, but this Haiyang Institute will be completely troubled at that time.

"My boss is wise!"

The servants and subordinates were all complimenting, and Li Yan touched his chin and sneered again and again: "If the court implements the new salt law, if there is a civil uprising in the local area, it will be a lot of fun!"

Many of the people present were local tyrants, and seeing the current situation, they were all relieved.

"That's right, the civil uprising will not only make the imperial court lose its majesty, but also shame His Majesty... Next time, if you want to implement something, it won't be so easy!"

"It's time for the imperial court to know the reason why the strong dragon does not suppress the local snake!"

"It's an unchanging truth. Why should he want to cut off all of us's money because he is a little boy in his early twenties?"

Li Yan picked up the tea and took a sip, then said with a smile:

"Those people outside the door haven't had water or rice for two days. Let's give some relief today, and let Yan Ding tease and complain a few words at will. In my opinion, this will be done."

The tyrants held up their tea and laughed loudly:

"Then let's go back and set up banquets, ready to celebrate!"

Just after drinking tea, a salt worker hurried in. He stumbled and fell in front of the door, "It's not good, boss, something is wrong!"

"Come in, come in!"

Li Yan looked extremely calm, he looked over lightly, still holding a tea bowl in his hand.

"So what if I came in, I saved some porridge and rice."

The tyrants didn't realize the seriousness of the matter, and they were still smiling, but a few of them frowned, staring at the Yan Ding who broke in.

"No, they didn't come in!" That Yan Ding was out of breath, and said hurriedly:

"It's soldiers, officers and soldiers broke in!"

Hearing this, Li Yan threw the tea bowl, got up and said angrily:

"what!?"

"Didn't Shufu, a thousand households in Haiyang Institute, accept my 3000 taels of silver? Doesn't he know that everyone is a grasshopper on a rope now, and dare to send officers and soldiers?"

Yan Ding waved his hands again and again: "No, it's not Shu Qianhu either, it's Yang Zhaoji's men who lead the Shandong army, and the leader is a young general named Yang Yufan!"

"Yang Yufan..."

Li Yan muttered a few words silently, and sat back slowly.

The tyrants were not as calm as him, they were all shocked and got up one after another, the tea bowls were smashed, and the sound of stools being kicked down was also heard one after another.

"It's Yang Zhaoji and Yang Yufan here?"

"None of the father and son is easy to get along with. Yang Zhaoji is highly valued by His Majesty today and has a high prestige in the army. His son Yang Yufan is also a promising young man. He won the martial arts examination at the age of 15 and is leading the army outside!"

A powerful man in a green robe looked at Li Yan and asked eagerly:

"Li Dong's family, this matter was brought up by your saltworks, but you didn't say that the imperial court would send troops directly. What should we do now?"

Another tyrant also stood up, standing in front of Li Wei, and said loudly:

"I said at the time that all the military power is in the hands of the emperor. If the court is determined to implement the new salt law, it will not work at all! Now it's okay, we all have to finish it together!"

"I'm not waiting to die with you, I'm leaving..."

Li Yan looked at the chaos in the hall, glanced at the person who spoke last, and said, "Go? Where are you going? Since the imperial court sent troops, it must have left behind!"

"Do you think you can take care of yourself now that you are gone? Let me tell you! The imperial court has cleaned up the salt fields all over the place, and it will deal with you in the future!"

Enough of the fuss, the tyrants sat down and looked at each other. Some looked flustered and seemed a little desperate, while others had unsteady expressions, as if they were thinking about something.

"Wen Tiren is in charge of the salt administration, and Yang Yufan's army will suppress it at any time..."

"This emperor, what a decisive method!"

For local forces like them, Zhu Youxiao's countermeasure is not very clever, but it is indeed a fatal move.

With the emperor in charge of the court and holding military power, the local tyrants cannot fight hard, so they joined forces one after another, trying to force the implementation of the new salt law to stop by relying on public opinion.

But no one expected that the imperial court would act so quickly this time, and the emperor directly intervened in the local salt administration without the slightest hesitation.

It's only been half a month, and the news hasn't spread all over Denglai and Lianghuai. The minister who took over the salt administration has already gone down to the localities. Dongchang and the officers and soldiers are cooperating. This is basically impossible to play!

That Haoqiang also sighed heavily, sat down and looked at Li Wei, and asked again:

"What to do, what do you say?"

After the shock just now, Li Yan gradually reacted now, turned his head and said: "Immediately tell the news to the salt farms everywhere, and while the ministers of civil and military affairs are all in Dengzhou Prefecture, step up and let the rioters make trouble!"

"Also, have all the official documents of the Salt Administration been destroyed?"

The leader of Yan Ding said: "Not yet, the time is too tight, the salt field has accumulated too much salt, and only [-]% of it has been hoarded, what should we do now?"

Li Yan rolled his eyes, and his face became ruthless, "It's too late, burn it, burn it right away, the house is gone, the saltworks are also gone, burn as much as you can!"

"Okay! I'll go right now!"

Yan Ding nodded, turned around and left.

Chapter 477 The Official Army Attacks the Saltworks

"Why are the officers and soldiers here?"

"Hmph, even if the officers and soldiers come, it can't just cut off the way of life for all of us, we still have to give an explanation!"

"Wait and see, I heard it's Young Shuai Yang!"